Supporting scholarship and promoting popular understanding of the American Revolution is central to the work of the American Revolution Institute. The Institute welcomes distinguished scholars and authors to share their insights and discuss their latest research with the public at Anderson House through lectures, author's talks and panel discussions. The Institute also hosts a variety of other historical programs throughout the year, including our Lunch Bite object talks, battlefield tours, special Anderson House tour programs and other events. Many of the events we offer are free.
July 2023
Author’s Talk – South Carolina Provincials: Loyalists in British Service During the American Revolution
The Loyalists who supported the British during the American Revolution have frequently been neglected in accounts of that conflict. Nevertheless, Loyalists made significant efforts to assist British forces in restoring royal control of the thirteen colonies. This was especially true in South Carolina, where backcountry Loyalists under almost-forgotten leaders such as Joseph Robinson and Euan McLaurin challenged the Revolutionary movement in 1775. Although their initial efforts were unsuccessful, Robinson, McLaurin and hundreds of their followers eventually made their way to…
Find out more »August 2023
Lecture – The Fighting Sullivans of World War II
On November 13, 1942, the American cruiser USS Juneau was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Serving on the cruiser were George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert Sullivan, five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who were all tragically killed in the attack. In 1944, their parents, Thomas and Alleta Sullivan, were presented with five Purple Heart medals by Rear Admiral Clark H. Woodward in the Key Room at Anderson House, where several U.S. Navy departments were headquartered…
Find out more »Lecture – William Hunter: A British Soldier’s Son Who Became an Early American
The son of a British soldier, William Hunter accompanied his father, a non-commissioned officer in the British army’s 26th Regiment of Foot, while on campaign during the American Revolution. Throughout the war, Hunter witnessed the first-hand terrors of combat, was captured twice, and produced the only surviving account written by a child of a British soldier. Drawing from Hunter’s recently discovered journal, which will be on display at the lecture, historian Euguene Procknow discusses his experiences during the Revolution and how they…
Find out more »September 2023
Author’s Talk – Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City
Drawing from his recent book, historian Christopher Minty, Ph.D., explores the origins of loyalism in New York City between 1766 and 1776, and adds to our understanding of the coming of the American Revolution. Focusing on political culture, organization, and patterns of allegiance, Dr. Minty demonstrates how the contending allegiances of loyalists and patriots were all but locked in place by the outset of war in 1775, and that the political alignments formed during the imperial crisis of the 1760s and…
Find out more »Special Program – The 2023 Society of the Cincinnati Prize Presentation & Reception
The 2023 Society of the Cincinnati Prize honors historian Friederike Baer, Ph.D., and her ground-breaking book Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War (Oxford University Press, 2022). Between 1776 and 1783, Great Britain hired an estimated thirty thousand German soldiers to fight in its war against the American rebels. Collectively known as Hessians, the soldiers and accompanying civilians, including hundreds of women and children, spent extended periods of time in locations as dispersed and varied as Canada, West Florida…
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